Production of English Alphabets by Koreans

Production and perception of second language sounds are typically influenced by second language learners' native language sounds. In this study we investigate how the Korean language influences Korean speakers' production of English alphabets. In the experiment conducted to prepare for this study 16 native speakers of Korean pronounced English alphabets. Then three native speakers of English evaluated the Korean subjects' pronunciation of them. The results show that the Korean subjects' native language (i.e., Korean) influences their production of the English alphabets. When Korean has sounds corresponding to English alphabets, the English subjects rate the Korean subjects' production of them good. For instance, Korean has voiceless stop phonemes, hence their production of English alphabets was rated good by the English subjects. The Korean subjects' production of English alphabets containing the sounds that do not exist in Korean was rated poor by the English subjects. For instance, Korean does not have voiced fricative phonemes, hence their production of English alphabets was rated poor.